First time UseMix three to four tablespoons of Treat Your Own concentrated oil with every one pound of wild birdseed. This higher dosage is helpful in the beginning to ensure that the squirrels that taste the product will be quickly conditioned to avoid the food. Once squirrels are avoiding the feeder, you can reduce the amount of oil you mix into subsequent seed batches to the recommended level (one to two tablespoons per pound).

The initial “conditioning” or taste test phase may take a few days or could require up to two or three weeks, depending on the size of the squirrel population in your area.

For small volumes of seed, use a sealable Tupperware container to mix the seed. For larger volumes of seed, it can be easily stirred and mixed in a pail, then stored and used as needed. After treating the bird seed and before placing it into the feeder, it should be allowed to sit for approximately 24 hours so that the oil has time to absorb into the seed.

It is important to note that sunflower seed is a shelled seed, and therefore the heart or meat inside the shell cannot be treated with the oil alone. Squirrel Proof’s treated “Premier” Wild Bird Seed (on sale in many stores across Canada) utilizes our PeneTreat process to infuse the oil inside the shell, but treating your own seed will not be able to fully protect the sunflower heart from squirrels. Therefore, we recommend using Treat Your Own with seed mixes that contain lower levels of sunflower seed, especially in the beginning “taste test” phase. Once squirrels are avoiding the feeder, you can add to the amount of treated sunflower seed you wish to put into your mix.